Shock Activities
by Agwen
Summary: "There's a limit to this nonsense," Naru warned as he lifted the knife from the table, while piercing Yasuhara with a glare that could kill.
1. Chapter 1: Shock Construction

**Author's note:** I wrote this story two years ago, but there was a problem with the other account, so I'm re-uploading this story again.

**Chapter 1: Shock Construction**

Yasuhara could barely contain his laughter as he exited the office building. The faces he had generated from his actions couldn't possibly have been more priceless than anything he's seen before. The young man received strange looks from pedestrians passing by after they noticed the enormous grin widening on his face. Taking his little theatrical plan in mind he merrily continued his way to his apartment. He was _so_ going to enjoy this case.

Lin had returned to his room earlier, so the man was left ignorant of the shocking revelation by Yasuhara, who came and went like a storm. With the door thrown closed after he left, the leftovers of the Shibuya Psychic Research had been left beyond shock in the aftermath. The young boss rose from his seat as an immediate reaction, and a group of wide eyes followed him into his private office until that door flew shut in their faces as well.

A girl opened and closed her mouth like a fish, being unable to say anything about what had just occurred. When Mai once had imagined herself being involved in a love triangle of sappy and vengeful proportions, as one would find in an average shoujo manga, she had never once considered that it would happen with a young man so prideful like her boss Naru. She had never considered someone like Masako to blackmail her way into a potential relationship with Naru and then in turn creating a certain love triangle. However, Masako was with them in the room and gave an audible whimper, before she shrieked angrily, referring to the aforementioned rivalry as: "So the past four years were all for nothing and this is what we get?!"

A black haired young man they knew all too well refused to give a comment, but the worst part was that he didn't even try to deny what had been claimed. Mai wasn't sure whether she felt angry or more shocked. At the same moment, the monk yelled at him with disgruntled noises and pounded on his door. Instead of knocking on the door futilely, Ayako tapped a heel against the floor and peered at Mai with stern eyes.

"Did you by any chance reject Naru's confession?" She speculated, pointing in accusation at her.

"What? No!" Mai returned a dubious stare. She had no idea what the miko was talking about at all. "Nothing happened!"

"Oh come on now, Mai, don't deny it. The poor guy's obviously heartbroken and now he's off to the other side," Takigawa made a sound that resembled a sob. He gave one last pound against Naru's door and stared at her with eyes full of tears. "We were rooting for you guys!"

Poor guy? Heartbroken? Since when did the monk side with her boss?!

"It wasn't me, it's all Yasuhara's fault!" Mai yelled at the two of them, as she spread her arms in the air in incoming offence, when Lin suddenly turned up in the hallway.

"What is this commotion about?" He said quietly, eyeing the scene with much... displeasure as he could.

"N-nothing!" Ayako and Takigawa simultaneously squeaked as they remembered Yasuhara's words of warning. Mai attempted a smile, but she was too bothered by what just happened and it resulted into a grime look of despair.

"We'll sort this out for a moment. Lets have some lunch on the way back, Mai! You didn't have any lunch yet I suppose?!" Ayako said nervously with a touch of anger, "Masako, you too!"

"Looks like you have some good ideas after all!" The monk twitched his eyebrow and managed a stupid smile on his face. Ayako stabbed his shoe with her pointy heel, resulting in a scream from the other, before dragging the two out with Masako following suit and leaving Lin completely in the dark.

**Several hours ago...**

It was a Saturday like every other Saturday. Mai's peaceful mornings were normally interrupted by visits of potential clients and the irregular associates of the Shibuya Psychic Research. When she arrived to at her work, Naru alerted her that at ten o' clock someone would visit to bring a potential case to the table. Additionally Yasuhara would come around 12 o' clock instead of the usual start of his working hours. Naru didn't say anything about it, but Mai assumed that the student recently had been busy with moving apartments.

At 10 o' clock sharp, the pack of visitors arrived. Two ladies and a young man around their age entered the office. Hazuki Chizuru was the tall and young landlady of an apartment complex and she was joined by one girl and a young man. Mai was surprised to hear that Hazuki was in the same faculty as Yasuhara, having been referred by him to the SPR. The lady seemed much like a studious type as the other, although she didn't seem to share the mischievous trait like her university friend had. Associated with the landlady were Misono Nanako who lived in the complex and Kuraya Satoru, who had spent the night in Misono's room. Misono had introduced herself as a first year college student in visual arts and it was her first week living on her own in Tokyo. Both of them originally came from the Chiba prefecture.

As usual for first-time visitors they were quite stunned by how her boss with a terrible personality looked, but the other man had remained quiet for most of the time. Unlike some visitors these females didn't make a fool of themselves such as purposely flirting with the boss. However, sketchier was probably the way Kuraya Satoru had shown off his well-built torso to the dismay of Misono, who took down his shirt back down to where it should have been. He only had to show the burns he'd received last night after an apparent paranormal event. Not more or less.

Although he hadn't been the only guy who had flirted with her, Mai had to cringe this time. Considering the fact that Kuraya had slept in Misono's room, which meant they _were_ involved, then why did he openly flirt in front of her with another girl and why didn't Misono get as angry as a girlfriend should have been? This puzzled Mai greatly after they left the office.

The case had been accepted and Mai was ordered to call in John, Masako, Ayako and Bou-san for a meeting at 1 o' clock. So far things went as they normally should have been or so she thought.

The moment Yasuhara opened the door with a cheerful smile the normalcy of the day started crumbling down.

"Good morning!"

Mai looked up from her desk and greeted back.

"Good morning~ We've got another case at an apartment complex," she said.

Yasuhara smiled.

"I see, that's great! I assume we have a meeting on this soon?"

"Great? You're sure cheerful today," Mai replied, "Yep, we have one at 1 o' clock. Everyone except John is coming. He's a bit busy this weekend at the church."

Yasuhara nodded in comprehension and stared at the person sitting on the couch reading some papers Lin had printed out.

"Ah, the boss is in full speed again."

"He's completely onto it, not even eating lunch, that work-a-..." Mai said, but trailed off when Yasuhara went to stand in front of Naru and leaned over the notes in the most obnoxious manner. What, what was he doing? Mai thought, holding a hand in front of her mouth.

"Boss~ ," the student started to accuse. Naru couldn't look at anywhere but his face that was invading his vision like an annoying insect, and shook his head as he frowned.

"That's not good, working on an empty stomach. This is quite sudden, but..." Yasuhara said, still smiling, "but will you go out with me... for lunch? I want to make up for being late. I want to do this properly, so it's my treat."

Naru ignored him completely.

"You see, I haven't eaten lunch or breakfast and I'm dying to try the croissants on the corner of the street. I heard that they were delicious-"

"Go alone."

This time Yasuhara used a serious expression.

"Actually, I have something to discuss with you. Please, come with me."

Finally Naru looked up at him, and sighed. Mai had to wonder why Yasuhara used such a roundabout way of getting things done.

"So it's about the case," the boss assumed, getting the hint, and Yasuhara nodded politely. Mai had been following the entire conversation and raised an eyebrow. Yasuhara knew the landlady, but why couldn't they just discuss the matter in the office?

"We'll be back in half an hour," the boss said and Mai nodded with curiosity.

**Way past one o' clock...**

Masako huffed audibly.

"They are late!"

She wasn't talking about how the two people next to her were late. The monk and miko had managed to be punctual, much like Lin sitting at the other couch. Fifteen minutes ago, the man had asked her to read her notes aloud after Masako began to complain. Mai turned out to be thorough about noting down the client's situation.

"Would you like another teacup" Mai asked her, after hearing the discomfort.

"No thank you."

Mai sighed.

"I do wish certain people would consider my schedule or I'll pass on this case," she declared.

"Shut up, you're not the only one," the monk said, and massaged his stomach, "I'm getting hungry over here..."

Masako huffed again and looked away.

The sound of a door opening caught their attention. A black and sombre object, known as "the boss", entered the office and hovered over to the seat in the middle. Following suit was the radiant figure of Yasuhara.

"Hello everyone~ I hope we didn't make you wait too long, because we had a lot of things to discuss!" he smiled at everyone.

"Yasuhara!" Naru snapped and it made any noise in the room halt to a screeching stop. Mai shivered. He was angry. Very angry. Now, Masako didn't even dare to mention her 'oh so busy' schedule.

Yasuhara sat down next to Mai and smiled at her. She could only frown back. Any way one would look at it, the current situation was obviously caused by that person. No matter how cheerful he was, there was no way he could bring down the grim atmosphere that had accumulated around Naru like graveyard haunted by nasty spirits.

"Taniyama-san has already read her notes to the other three," Lin said, his eyes glancing at the boss first and then the source of evil, Yasuhara. Someone had been emitting Madoka-like energy balls ever since he entered the room, and Lin was not about to interfere when everything could freeze over.

Naru responded by giving the poor floor a black stare. Those who receive the end of that gaze would die of a horrible disease, Mai speculated, not knowing what to do about the current situation.

"Unless someone has a question, I have nothing else to add to that. We will gather tomorrow at twelve o' clock at that place. Lin and I will drive there with the equipment. We'll spend the night there so bring spare clothes."

It took about five minutes to get things sorted and eventually the mood lightened a wee bit. Lin was the first to leave to the comfort of his room and that's when Yasuhara decided to sit on the arm of the armchair with ease, with Naru still sitting there, but to the discomfort of everyone present in the room. The monk stared at the scene with wide eyes. What the hell was the boy doing?!

"Guys, before I go back home I want to annou-"

Mai gulped when Naru interrupted by rising out of his chair, but the other boy fastened his grip on his shoulder and nailed him back into the chair with a terrifying strength.

"You see," Yasuhara continued as if it was the most normal thing in the world, "There's something you need to keep a secret about."

All could see the blood draining out of Naru's face as if he was at the point of undergoing some kind of torture.

"Yasuhara-san... Naru isn't looking good," Mai pointed out, but her boss gave her the nastiest glare she'd ever received from him, and this was all he could do to keep her mouth shut. Mai thought she would have died at that moment. Yasuhara stared at his boss for a moment and then held his hand next to his own mouth, whispering to the others, "This is for the goodwill of your boss... keep it a secret from Lin-san!"

Simultaneously they all stared at Lin's closed door and then returned to where they were. After that, Yasuhara brought an arm around Naru's neck lovingly and said, "Naru and I are dating."


	2. Chapter 2: Deadly Work

**Chapter 2: Deadly Work**

**The Lunch with Yasuhara Osamu.**

When they entered the French lunch room they were welcomed by a three-headed pack of waitresses, who were obviously eyeing the tall good-looking young man in black. Yasuhara smiled wearily at the fact that he was completely left out from the picture. There was just no way of competing with Shibuya Kazuya in looks, but his personality made up for it. Probably, he thought. One girl was firing one dumb question after another. Naru smirked a little, but didn't smile even once with his eyes.

"Oi, Okazaki! Don't go harassing our customers like that! You're a newbie here!" Once a young man's voice called out from behind the waitresses, Naru's fake smirk dropped. A college-aged male pushed the girls away. Yasuhara noticed that this guy didn't look very Japanese. If it were not for his age, he would easily pass for being the French-Japanese owner, though he certainly acted like a superior right now.

"Know your place," the man scolded the girl, "Table nine wants to order. I'll handle this. Now get going!"

"I'm sorry senpai~" The girl ran off in heeled steps.

The man turned to Naru with a beautiful and wide smile, while gesturing with a hand at a one seat spot in the back, "The usual again?"

Again, Yasuhara felt left out again and smiled cheerfully.

"Ah, actually he's with me. A table for two please?"

"Ah? Oh, I'm sorry... Then..." he apologized, finally noticing Yasuhara tagging behind Naru.

"Let's sit in the back," Naru said to his companion, cutting off the waiter and abruptly walking to the back. Yasuhara gave a apologetic bow at the man who stared after the young boss in surprise.

Not much later the same man appeared in front of their table. This time the male waiter seemed less impressed with Naru's behaviour and took their orders like a robot would. He was rather cold and to the point compared to the client friendliness he had on his sleeve minutes ago, but Naru just didn't seem to notice or care.

After the waiter left, Yasuhara said, "You're not very perceptive about people aren't you?"

Despite Naru staring at him with a look that didn't care, he asked, "How come?"

"That person went out of your way to treat his faithful customer and you didn't even thank him once."

"It's his job," he replied with a sigh, "...and I'm not a faithful customer."

"Hmm... I wonder about that," Yasuhara looked outside the window.

He hadn't been here before, but he recalled the many times that he had walked past and see Naru and Lin in the lunch room. However, whenever he tried catching their attention they would just ignore him like as if he were a stranger. Lately it had only been Naru on his own with Lin nowhere in sight. It seemed rather lonely all by himself. Were they still in a fight about that incident of a month ago? It was a little fact that Madoka told him, since she was so worried about Lin and Naru. Nobody else in the SPR knew about it. Neither of the two men knew that Yasuhara held that knowledge about the growing tension between them. He suspected that Naru needed some privacy from being around Lin the whole time.

"Yasuhara-san. We have less than an hour..." Naru prodded, having noticed his worker was getting sidetracked to somewhere outside.

"Oh, sorry... I was lost in thoughts for a moment about the croissants," he smiled politely.

The boss sighed in exasperation and didn't utter a response.

"Well, although it's more proper to ask after the meal... Since this is going to take a while, and you insist on this, I'll just go ahead," Yasuhara continued.

Naru closed his eyes and waited.

"Shibuya-san... I've been wondering about this all along, but... how come you have no pimples?"

He opened his eyes in disbelief and found Yasuhara staring at him intensely.

"...Yasuhara-san."

"Answer my question," he smiled, while poking at one of the utensils with his finger, "I mean, you've gone through puberty like any other person and yet you're not showing any signs of pimples and other blemishes on the skin. Are you using some obscure skin product? Or is it purely genetics? It's really strange, because I showed my little sister our group picture and she was freaking out about how just _smooth_ your skin looked. She's dying to know what you did to your skin like that. Oh, I'd rather not tell you, but if she were to meet you Megu-chan would actually consider touching you aaaall over~"

With that Yasuhara actually managed to give Naru some goosebumps. He instantly decided that he never wanted to meet that sister.

"Stop that nonsense," Naru leaned with his back against the seat and glared at the person across him. "That's _not_ what you wanted to tell me."

Yasuhara didn't say anything to that much to Naru's irritation, but kept tapping against the table with his fingers until the waiter accompanied with another waitress brought their baguette, croissants and soups.

"Then I'll tell you what you want to hear," Yasuhara began to speak calmly.

Under the high tension that was apparent from the two young men's conversation, the nervous girl placed their drinks and the basket with bread in the middle of the table. The male waiter followed suit by serving the young men bowls of soups with a very strained expression, until his face turned bleak at Yasuhara's proposal.

"I love you. Will you go out with me?"

The waiter was all too obviously staggering back with an extremely sour face and the girl had petrified on spot with her mouth wide open.

That was _not_ what Naru had wanted to hear.

"Shibuya-san?"

Yasuhara still had that annoyingly blank expression and Naru had the urge to punch him right then. Instead he glared at the waiters who took a couple of steps backwards at the frigid stare they received from the boy. Why the hell were they still standing here? Naru thought.

"This must me shocking to you," Yasuhara began dramatically, gesturing his hands around, "but I really do-"

At this point the waiter and the waitress had fled the scene.

"What's the meaning of this?" Naru said, containing his boiling anger as much as possible, "You said it was about the case."

"I wasn't lying about that. There's someone you need to be aware of when you start up the case tomorrow," Yasuhara said, while stirring his coffee without any care in the world, and then stared at the squealing waitresses in the back. He assumed the nervous girl had told them about his confession and grinned. Assessing the situation, it looked exactly as if Yasuhara was trying to blackmail him into something. "I see they're curious about the outcome of this conversation..."

"One of the client's..?" Naru ignored him.

"Who came in this morning other than the landlady?"

Naru recalled the trio.

"That girl and her boyfriend."

Yasuhara shook his head.

"Uh-uh. He's actually her elder brother. Their parents divorced a couple of years ago and he's staying over at his sister's place for a week to help out with moving around," Yasuhara pointed out, "Of course you must remember what he did this morning. His sister told me on."

Naru raised an eyebrow. What did that guy do..? He didn't remember anything of importance regarding that man, except for his name and the burns.

"Shibuya-san? Kuraya Satoru was hitting on you," he explained.

Naru stared blankly at his soup.

"...but that was..." He mumbled as he vaguely recalled that man's insistence on showing his naked upper torso to the staff, but he thought it was meant for anyone but him.

Yasuhara chuckled as if reading his mind by seeing the confusion on his face. "I can't blame you for being dense around people, but wasn't this just too much? Not every guy of that age is hitting on your cute assistant, they might just go for you."

A startled Naru sighed and started on his lunch instead. Yasuhara wasn't wrong. Not in the least. For every dozen girls that swooned over his gorgeous figure, there had to at least one guy falling for his looks. It _had_ happened before, so it didn't shock him greatly. Among those people were of course fools who actually dared to confess to him. Like Mai. However, Yasuhara wasn't a fool and measured up with Madoka when it came to plotting.

"Satoru-senpai doesn't fall in love easily, but whenever he comes across a goldmine he's going to dig in. This ultra-romantic has snatched up every girl and guy he's liked in existence and those victims were known as tough cookies like you."

"..."

"The serious and hard-working beauties are his type."

Naru sighed. "I'm not going to fall for anyone."

"Even if you don't. Fact is that he'll thoroughly invade your personal space for the next days. Trust me on that."

Naru could readily imagine that exhibitionist doing those kind of things and frowned hard.

"Are there... any alternatives?"

"Hm... he likes younger guys and older women," Yasuhara mused, "This means everyone except us are out... and assuming you're going to be around him around the next few days, it seems more easier for both you and me to hook up. Otherwise, would you prefer either of us to be distracted during a case like this?"

"Why do you think this is necessary...?" The young boss sighed again and then sliced his bread into two piece. "Is he really that bad?"

"I know him very well. If he wasn't I wouldn't be proposing this to you and risk being fired," Yasuhara said, "Don't worry. It's only for one week or even less. You won't get bothered by that guy and use me as an excuse instead. It can only improve our work environment for that matter."

"..."

For the next minutes they spent their time actually eating and on Naru's side it was mostly thinking about the bizarre things his employee said. Yasuhara continued after finishing his soup.

"That guy gets disappointed and tired of his lover, and then cheats on them when he finds the next best person he comes across. It's disgusting."

"You've done your research," Naru commented, but the other sighed.

"I hadn't. I know from first hand experience."

"What?" Naru frowned.

"Seeing him around for a whole week bothers me. It's like meeting that bully from elementary school again."

"...he bullied you?"

"No."

It annoyed Naru how his answers and his mood went increasingly downhill as he spoke of his senior. At this point Yasuhara was staring out of the window, frowning hard with a half eaten croissant in his mouth.

"Yasuhara-san, if you won't tell me what's going on, then I'm not doing this."

"I could ask you about why that half-French waiter is glaring daggers at me," he weaved his hands together as he looked at his boss.

"...what are you talking about?"

"I said nothing," Yasuhara replied knowingly, "Just do what I say... unless you really do have someone you like."

Naru felt a headache coming and ran a hand through his hair. There was no way getting around this. He couldn't say _no_ to this. How could Yasuhara have seen through this so quickly? Even if it was Lin or Madoka telling him on... No, Lin wouldn't, so Madoka did.

"...what are you going to tell the others?"

"Hm? Of course everyone has to know. That's why I asked you out in front of those people. The more people know, the more Satoru-senpai will be less eager to flirt with either of us."

"There's a limit to this nonsense," Naru warned as he lifted the knife from the table, while piercing Yasuhara with a glare that could kill. The student watched him with an expectant smile.

"Oh? Do you already have someone you like? Possibly Mai? But you guys are so slow and too awkward... Or maybe..." Yasuhara's gaze wandered away.

"Stop that. I'm not involved with anyone," Naru insisted. The other smiled.

"Really, I don't have anyone either, so this is actually quite ideal!" Yasuhara cheered, "Is there anything else you need me to know?"

"Don't tell Lin. Everyone can know except for him," Naru said gravely.

"I see," Yasuhara frowned, but decided against questioning his boss further, "Well, as for my conditions... I don't want our relationship to come across as a joke, let's make it as believable as possible."

"Yasuhara-san... No inappropriate touching."

"I won't touch you, but I'll let you take the initiative when the situation calls for it."

Naru raised an eyebrow.

"Well? How about it?" Yasuhara smiled.

"No."

The young man nearly fell over. This was going to take a _long_ time.

Making a long hour short, it took a lot more convincing to get the stubborn Naru exactly where Yasuhara wanted him to be. In a hurry they ran back to the office seeing as they were hopelessly late. Before that, Yasuhara had thanked the cute girls for encouraging Naru to take up his offer, while the boss wasn't looking; Shibuya Kazuya was too busy having a glaring contest with the waiter at the door. Yasuhara wasn't terribly sure what was going on between them, but it seemed like nothing serious if Naru was willing to do this one-week of dating.

"It will end in exactly one week. Next week Saturday at twelve o' clock," Yasuhara said, patting him on the back, and repeated the words which he'd said in the past half hour, "It won't be that bad. We can laugh it off as a joke after the break up!"

_Yeah, right._ As comfort to his misery, Naru tried picturing his own smug face as he fired Yasuhara after the break up. He opened the door and staggered back inside his office.


	3. Chapter 3: Fragments Call

**Chapter 3: Fragments Call**

**The day before Naru was asked out.**

"I'm completely exhausted!"

Yasuhara sighed as he collapsed on a couch in the middle of the living room of his new apartment, and scooped out his surroundings. He still had to unpack his belongings and put them in order as soon as possible.

"I might have to take work off tomorrow if I don't finish by today," he said to the young landlady, Hazuki Chizuru, who was sitting in the creaky white plastic chair next to the doorway. She was a fellow student at the law faculty who also turned out to be from the same area where he originally came from. Hazuki had used her car to help him move.

"Your boss seems pretty lenient," she said.

"He's not that lenient, but he's very understanding when it comes to studies. I'm just an office clerk after all."

"That's great. I thought he was some kind of cold jerk after I hearing the things you said about him," she laughed.

"To some people he is," Yasuhara smiled wryly, "Well, sometimes he does get that bad."

Hazuki looked at her watch.

"Ahh, it's almost time for dinner and it's my turn to cook. I'm sorry, but I have to go in a couple of minutes."

"Dinner sounds good. Should I help out? Since you carried some of my things in..."

She waved a hand and then pushed her round glass up her nose. "You have bad timing. I already have someone helping me out today! Try tomorrow."

"Ah, you've been lending a hand to more than one person I see," Yasuhara deducted, and she nodded.

"It's another girl who moved in recently," she winked, and stood up, stretching her arms, "Well, off I go!"

Half an hour later someone rang the doorbell just as Yasuhara had been finishing up putting the books out of the boxes.

"Hazuki-san?" He called out.

"I'm not her," said a male voice behind the door.

"Hello, who is it?"

Yasuhara opened it and noticed the person's arm leaning against the wall, and the other hand holding a plastic bag. A familiar man in mid-twenties and brown dyed hair, wearing a rolled up white half-buttoned dress shirt and short khaki pants, looking as if he just returned from a day at the beach. There was an odd smile on his lips. He knew that face.

"You couldn't be..."

"Kuraya Satoru. It's been a while, hasn't it, Osamu-kun? Chizuru-san told me to bring these pastries for you."

"Satoru... senpai."

For the first time in a long while Yasuhara didn't know what to say.

"Eh you know each other?"

Hazuki was standing right behind Satoru with a plate of food. However his expression softened by the time he noticed her and then nodded wordlessly.

"Well, it doesn't seem unexpected since you guys were in the same middle school."

"Yeah! Me and Osamu-kun were in the student council together!" Satoru smiled, "We haven't spoken each other for years."

"Oh, back then you were the student council president of course," she said, "...with Osamu-kun as your successor. I heard that from Nana-chan."

"Hazuki-san knows Satoru-senpai?"

"Well, actually I used to be his girlfriend, but I dumped him!" The landlady said, laughing it off and Yasuhara had to raise an eyebrow. Satoru smiled wryly as if not wanting to remember that fact.

"...really?" Yasuhara could only stand in the doorway awkwardly, before letting them in with the food.

"What a coincidence..." Satoru commented. "You got into Toudai too, huh. Can't say I'm surprised."

"Yes, I met Hazuki-san at the law faculty and discovered we're from the same area," he explained to the senior.

"I see."

"Since you guys seem to know each other anyway, I'm going back to the other people. Enjoy your meal!"

"What brings you here?" Yasuhara asked him after the landlady left.

"Ah, actually I'm spending a week here with my sister."

"Sister?" He couldn't recall anyone in this complex who shared a name with Kuraya.

"Well, Nana-chan knew Hazuki from way back," Satoru said as he looked around the room.

"Ah, you mean, Misono Nanako-chan?"

"Yeah, she's my sister."

They had different surnames? Yasuhara waited for him to explain, but Satoru soon began scanning a framed picture on the wall with an open mouth.

"Holy shit."

"What's wrong?" the student frowned.

"Who is that guy in black?"

Yasuhara left the food and pastries on the table and went to see where he was pointing at with his finger. The frame contained a year old photo of the SPR office members with some of the irregulars.

"...that's my boss."

"Your boss!" The man exclaimed. "He looks so young! What kind of work does he do?"

"Whether you believe it or not. Ghost hunting."

"Huh?" His mouth had dropped even more.

"It's for real. Well, it's more like paranormal research..."

"...I wouldn't know anything about that, but..." Satoru said with his eyes fully locked on Naru, "He's smoking hot."

Yasuhara paused before giving an answer. So Satoru still was like that... He decided to play along.

"Isn't he just? I was quite shocked when I first met him," he smiled wryly.

"O-osamu-kun! Is he available?! ...is there any way I can meet this beauty?!" Satoru stammered with wide eyes twinkling.

Yasuhara shook his head for he had no idea. The boss was nearly twenty and there had yet to be signs of a significant other. Over the years Yasuhara realized the young man had become even more handsome and he only noticed it when he went with his boss and Lin to pick up some new equipment in town a couple of months ago. While he and Lin were bringing heavy boxes to the vehicle, Naru had been held up by people from a modelling agency who had wanted to scout him out. Obviously they had not much success.

It wasn't that much of a shock, but Lin told him it happened quite often.

"What kind of person is he? He seems like the serious type."

"A workaholic... he probably won't let people near unless there is a connection with work."

Satoru went down on his hands and knees in front of Yasuhara, much to the latter's irritation.

"Oi Osamu-kun, recommend me to your boss!" He begged shamelessly, and Yasuhara suppressed a large frown as he made a forced smile.

"No, we have enough people! You're probably not suitable either..!" Yasuhara said, slightly irritated. Satoru gave him an assessing look and apparently realized he'd pulled the wrong snare.

"Sorry, I'm tired," Yasuhara apologized quickly, putting his glasses up his nose's bridge, "...just forget about it already."

Satoru got up and scanned the room before looking at the other again.

"Hm... So there's no chance?"

"Not at all," Yasuhara forced a smile, and daringly said, "Because he's mine."

Satoru's mouth corners dropped. The man would probably have loved to tease Naru, but the boss surely would hate to be in the same room as the person. It was too much of a disaster if they would ever meet. The student didn't want them to meet, because he knew how uncomfortable Naru was with being touched by other people.

"Seriously?" The older man said.

"Yes, I've got him wrapped around my fingers," Yasuhara said with a perfect smile and brimming an aura of victory. This was all he could do to keep Satoru off his own lawn. He mentally asked his boss for forgiveness. Satoru stared at him blankly and asked if he could help him with packing. Yasuhara insisted that he didn't need Satoru to do more after having helped out his own sister.

"Well, it can't be helped then... Enjoy your meal. Feel free to hang out with me and Nana-chan if you want."

With a quick hand wave the senior returned to the hallway. Yasuhara felt relieved after the man left. Satoru hadn't changed at all, and was being pretty rude by looking at his personal belongings in his room without his permission.

However, in the middle of the night someone knocked on the door rapidly.

"Yasuhara-kun!" Hazuki called out.

"Hazuki-san? What happened?" he asked, after opening the door.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, but something happened to Nanako-chan and her brother! He told me to get you, because you know about things like that!" she pleaded and pulled his arm's sleeve.

"Things like that..?" he rubbed his eyes.

"About paranormal stuff. Hurry, come with me!" she yelled.

**Mai's homework struggles after the revelation**

In an attempted distraction she had turned her free afternoon into a homework session, but the girl snapped her pencil into two and threw it against the wall. The debris fell in a gap behind the couch and she groaned, planting her face into the mathematical statistics book.

"No! I can't do this any more!" Mai drew her hands into her hair and pulled until it hurt. "Damn it, I can't concentrate because of _that_!"

'That' referred to Naru and Yasuhara, who had suddenly announced their 'relationship status' to the shock of everyone but Lin. Upon the revelation, Ayako had dragged them out for a lunch in the French lunch room and wildly discussed the possibilities. They were scaring her with theories that Naru might be gay _after all_, because according to Ayako he never was interested in women (_older_ women, Mai replaced in her thoughts), while Bou-san insisted that_ Mai _had supposedly turned him down. That didn't make any sense at all! She knew Naru better than that. All throughout the conversation, it was obvious that Masako had decided not to turn up to the case, because she was angered that she had been treated like that with her busy schedule. Mai supposed the medium needed more time to adjust to the situation.

She groaned again. Mai had seen it in Naru's reaction to what Yasuhara had said and done. It couldn't be any more than a prank! Mai wondered whether her boss had been blackmailed once again.

She sighed in defeat and took her cellphone out, dialling a number before she plummeted onto her bed.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Ah, Mai-chan! What's up?" At the end of the line was Takahashi Yuuko, one of the SPR part-timers. They usually called her by the nickname, Taka.

"...ah, you wouldn't believe what happened today," Mai wailed into the phone.

"Well, spill it out. Is it about the boss?"

"You made a good guess..."

She laughed heartily, "Mai, isn't it usually like that? You always complain to me about _him_."

Mai groaned.

"It's not the usual thing."

"I'm waiting."

"...well, today we had some visitors and there was this strange guy who- no, that's not the point-"

"What did he-?"

"He showed off his, uh-, abs. Anyway, that's not-"

"Hey, was he good looking?"

"Yes! Now stop cutting me off!"

"Hm~"

"Anyway, we accepted their case, but then Yasuhara came in and took the boss for lunch."

"Oho~ An interesting development."

"That sure is... they never had lunch together, as a duo! Naru and Lin for that matter usually eat out alone."

Taka made a noise of agreement. Yasuhara always went with the girls for lunch, and jokingly called them his 'harem'.

"So yeah, Yasuhara insisted he wanted to talk about the case with Naru."

"Huh?"

"Privately."

"Well he did say that he was going to move into a new apartment... So the case is going to be there?"

"Makes sense. Naru went with him and then made us wait for nearly two hours before they came back!"

"What?! That's so unlike them!" Taka was shocked.

"I know! Masako was really impatient and Bou-san nearly fell asleep on the couch!"

"Hahaha!"

"It's not funny! I had to explain the case to them all by myself!"

"Oh I'm sorry~"

"They came back and Naru was in a foul mood... I don't remember much about what happened before Lin left to his room, but then Yasuhara-san... Yasuhara..."

Mai tried really hard to pull a straight voice as she said the following sentence.

"He told me they were dating!"

"..." Taka made no noise at the other side of the line.

"They're dating!" Mai repeated frantically.

"Yasuhara and...?"

"Naru!"

"...Yasuhara and Naru are dating?!" Taka screamed loudly, "Seriously?!"

Someone spit in the background.

"Yes!" Mai yelled back.

At the end of the line there was a different person that said, "What the hell?!"

Mai felt a headache coming. Oh boy, that irritated voice could only be...

"Mai! What did you just say?!" that person said, having taken the phone from Taka.

"Chiaki-san... it's true..."

Chiaki muttered something incoherent as if she were in a daze and Taka said something else. So the girls were hanging out together. Mai sighed.

"I can understand from Yasuhara's side... but the boss..."

Scratch that. Even though Yasuhara joked when he encountered beautiful men, there was little doubt that he was serious about 99 percent of the things he had said in that manner. Mai had thought he was like that.

"So... what did Naru say?" Chiaki asked with calm voice.

"Nothing!" Mai answered.

"...Nothing?"

"He didn't say anything at all. After Yasuhara left, he went back to his room without saying anything!"

"What... that, that bastard!" Chiaki angrily said.

"I know!"

Taka took the receiver again.

"Mai, are you all right?"

"I guess... not. I tried doing my homework, but all I can think about is _that_."

"No wonder," Chiaki scoffed, "Mai, keep your head up! Yasuhara probably made him do that."

"Ugh, I figured that already."

"Anyway, we're right behind you, so don't think you're alone in this."

"Thanks..." Mai sighed.

**After Naru made sure he was the only one in the office.**

Gritting his teeth like a hungry tiger he took the phone and dialled the number he otherwise never used. In another part of the world someone picked up.

"Oh my, Naru, isn't it rare of you to call me!" a woman's voice exclaimed.

"What did you tell Yasuhara?" Naru skipped the greeting and questioned her with an angry voice.

There was a pause.

"...what are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I mean, stop feigning ignorance, Madoka!"

"Ah, the kiss marks?"

Naru clenched his fist.

"Lin told _you_?"

"Of course he did," Madoka said, "Do you suppose he wasn't shocked that his otherwise innocent ward acquired kiss marks after a runaway?"

Naru remembered how furious the man was after discovering the kiss marks on his shoulder and neck, and ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want to discuss that any more, the problem right now was...

"But you told Yasuhara."

"I might have."

"Madoka," he barely managed not to yell into the phone, "Why?"

"Well, after the case ended... Yasuhara noticed the sudden tension between the two of you."

Naru figured it would have been that. Such a situation wouldn't have gone unnoticed for a sharp guy like him. The first week had been too awkward for words. It was a great relief that Mai and the others hadn't seen the discomfort.

Madoka continued, "He asked me about it and I just couldn't help spilling out the details!"

_Idiots!_

"Well, what did Yasuhara say to you?"

"None of your business."

"Oh, I thought you rang me up to tell me the good news about your latest boyfriend!"

"..." Naru went white, and only mustered to say, "Tell my parents or Lin and you'll _die_."

Madoka giggled.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't want to be the one breaking the news to them. As for Lin, I just know he would retire before tomor-"

Naru slammed the phone back on the receiver.

* * *

**Author's notes**

Thanks so much for reading and all the reviews! This is an early update. Chapters 4 and 5 have been written and are waiting to be revised. The long wait for the actual new chapter 6 should be over soon. There has been a slight revision from the previous version. Namely, the part where Yasuhara lies to Satoru about his relationship with Naru to prevent himself from being invaded in his personal space has been added in.

Without revealing too much, I do have to say this is not an actual or typical m/m or not even a fluffy romance fic. If you had been expecting something like that, I apologise. I hope it will be enjoyable nonetheless. …I suppose I could categorize it as a humour and mystery with a whiff of drama, but you will see.

Lastly, I am writing this story for the Diversity Challenge of the Paranormal Feedback forum, because we need more than just Naru and Mai fics, right?


	4. Chapter 4: Stalker Introlude

**Chapter 4: Stalker Introlude**

_For the first time in many years, he had been called a freak._

_He couldn't recall the first time when he had been despised like this. In his younger years he suffered that word somewhere in a chaotic apartment with broken windows and that run down orphanage where children were terrorized with flying books, window shards and paper planes. Ah yes, it had been around that time, and his brother had always been there to cover his ears or hold him back from mentally throwing a brick at those people. The keepers, the children and the visitors. No one liked the things he did, but Gene was the only one not terrified. Until their new parents came along._

_Many years later a middle-aged client would suffer a severe injury after a careless defence manoeuvre. Before the man had ended up falling from the stairs, a chair flying by had accidentally made him fall, after colliding with a launched table. Initially Naru hadn't known the man had fled in the direction of to the stairs, but realized as soon as the vengeful and powerful ghost used a table to hit him. The client was frozen on spot in fear and no other person could have possibly protected or taken him down in safety._

_Naru made use of the common knowledge that the fastest way to travel on earth was through air. Simple as that. His focus went to the chair in the corner and he had made it collide with the table. Luckily, Naru only spent a day in the hospital, and got scolded by Lin after waking up days later as usual, though he didn't say much more as it really was the only way to prevent from any harm happening. Lin himself had received a head injury prior to the accident and hadn't been there to witness the final confrontation._

_The client was less forgiving._

_"I hired you to protect me!" The man insisted. Supposedly Naru would be released from the hospital a day later, but the man summoned him to his room to explain just what the _hell_ happened that day._

_He had carefully explained that he was only there to inspect and remove the cause of the paranormal occurrence, but the man threatened to sue him. Naru icily told him that if it wasn't for him, he would have been crushed to death by that table. As soon as the man realized who was behind the flying chair, he cowered in fear, and called Naru a freak. Then launched a tirade containing a whole vocabulary which came down to describing him as a monster. The nurses came rushing him and ushered Naru out. An hour later came the word, that client would pay for their services, but as long as he would never get to see Naru's face again._

_By this time Naru had hardened his heart against these kind of words, having matured from the old childhood wounds, but he never wanted to hear it again from anyone else. This time he had no Gene to hug him and sooth his mind. Now he was supposed to be a young man with a heart and mind of steel._

The young man had woken up with clammy skin and quickly realised he had passed the night by rolling around in his bed. He had been in a state of fleeting between dreams and the darkness of his room. Feeling the grease in his hair when he ran his hands through it, deepened his desire to take a shower. As quietly as possible he went down the hallway and cleaned his body with warm water trickling down. When he entered his bedroom while drying his hair with a towel, he noticed his cell phone's display was blinking.

A text message from an unknown number.

[ _I love you._ ]

**Arrival at the apartment complex**

"Hara-san left a voice mail this morning. It seems she has taken ill," Lin said while sitting in front of the steering wheel. Naru didn't bother replying. The van with the equipment arrived in front of the client's residence. Whether Naru had seen the two girls standing there was unknown as he was more concerned with his work.

"Naru?" Lin asked when he noticed the permanent scowl on the boy's face. His folded arms gave away a rather austere presence. Naru didn't turn to look at him for he had been scanning the slew of documents in his lap sent by email. As of this morning results came in from a preliminary check at the library regarding the apartment complex.

"So far two particular facts jump out at me. A previous construction had existed on the site and its demise," the boy said.

"I see," Lin acknowledged, "Do you want to wait for Yasuhara-san and the others before going in?"

Naru nodded, and felt his anger silently boiling at the mention of that name.

"We could have picked Yasuhara-san up at the library," Lin added.

Naru twitched his eyebrow.

"There was no need to."

The Chinese man looked a little startled. "Did something happen?"

"No."

Naru tensely shoved the documents back into the map. When a familiar van entered the apartments' parking lot, the girls were able to see Lin at the steering wheel with Naru at his side. Mai and Taka approached the van at the same time as Naru stepped out.

"Look, Taka-san, as much as I like hanging around with you. Now is a good time to run away," Mai said to the other girl. "Naru looks like he's ready to kill someone."

Instead the older college student laughed at her, seemingly enjoying the new development, but Mai feared the outcome of the day. This wasn't going to make the day any better. Not for her and not for the rest of the team. She was going to lose her nerves before any paranormal activity would fatefully drag her into danger. The ghost would be horrified to learn she was fearing her boss's temperament over its presence. Mai shook her head wildly. She simply had to learn to get over him and accept the current situation had it actually been valid. That was her conclusion after losing a night's sleep and in her confusion she had almost decided that Naru had never been interested in girls. Period. However, Yasuhara's actions were anything but valid and Naru was unquestionably rigid compared to his usual self. Actually she was quite angry at both of them, but Yasuhara all the more.

"Good morning," Mai said with a tensed voice, "You're early."

"Hara-san called off. We didn't have to pick her up," Naru said, blatantly passing them by, receiving odd looks from Lin and the girls. Mai had a big feeling his mind wasn't on the job.

"By the way," Taka said with a knowing smile, "Congratulations."

Naru stopped, looking negatively surprised to see his other part-time worker before looking at Mai with menacing eyes.

"Why is _she_ here?" he asked her.

Looking as unaffected as possible Mai shrugged, raising her hands with open palms.

"I got nothing to do with this. She just suddenly appeared on my doorstep this morning and followed me around."

Taka gave him a giant smile. Obviously Naru didn't believe a single word Mai said and ignored them both, heading toward the entrance.

"Uh... shouldn't we wait for the others?" Mai asked hesitantly and Naru stopped instantly. He proceeded to sit down on the side walk and stared harshly at the documents as if they had somehow offended him. Mai sighed, but was startled by the low voice hovering over her head.

"He seems to be bothered by something," Lin said, quietly.

'"Well, yeah..." Mai sighed. _If only you knew_, she thought miserably.

Leaving the two men on their own, Mai and Taka paced around by themselves on the parking lot. They had taken a good look at the exterior of the building. Seeing as it was a relatively modern building, Mai guessed it had to be at most 30 years old.

Soon a car arrived with the monk and miko in it. Takigawa seemed surprised at his female fan's visit and claxoned, irritating Naru immediately.

"Hey guys," the monk said.

"Am I right in guessing that this is where Yasuhara lives?" Ayako asked outright.

Naru nodded.

"If this is the place he lives in, then where is Yasuhara himself?" Ayako asked again, obviously enjoying the dark look on his face.

Mai groaned a little. Since when did Ayako concern herself so much with Yasuhara? Can't that woman be any less blunt about the current situation? She didn't like that Ayako was dead set on annoying her boss even more.

"At the library, researching," Naru answered plainly, "We won't wait for him. Lets go."

"Hey, that's not how you treat your-"

Naru sharply glared at the miko before she could finish the sentence.

"Okay I'll shut up now," Ayako smiled very awkwardly, "Hehe."

Mai facepalmed and walked together with the others to the entrance, where Hazuki seemed to have noticed the company before they even rang the door.

"Welcome!" she said, and counted the group with her eyes, "Oh, I wasn't expecting so many young people. No wonder Yasuhara still works with you guys."

"Except this one, we're all pretty young," Takigawa said, patting the miko and the back.

"Ahem!" Ayako was not pleased and proceeded grinding his foot with her shoe.

"I said nothing."

"Can you show us the room we could use?" Naru asked the landlady.

"Yes, right this way," Hazuki let them in and led them to a spacious room, "Normally we use it as the communal living room where we watch television and hang out together. If you need anything else, I'll be happy to provide."

"It's perfect. Thank you," Naru said to her, and then to the others, "Unload the van."

Naru and Lin left first.

"So who are you guys? I've only seen this girl when we met in your office."

"Takigawa Houshou, a monk," Takigawa said, and then took the opportunity to introduce them all. "Ayako is a miko and Mai's the psychic. Well, you probably guessed that Naru is the brainiac and our boss, Yasuhara is the resident research spider. Also, Lin is our secret weapon."

Mai laughed.

"Well we're not even complete. Two of us are missing," Ayako answered, and boasted, "but even so, we're pretty capable like this."

Hazuki stared at the girl next to Mai.

"So if you guys are psychics, and you're...?"

"Takahashi Yuuko, Mai's assistant in danger and safety," Taka winked, smiling, "I happen to major in medical science, seeing as my is my friend this is relevant to my interests."

"Oh really?" Hazuki laughed.

_Works for me_, Mai thought as she sheepishly smiled.

**Yasuhara arrives**

"Shibuya-saaaaan!"

Naru jolted up from putting down the camera, when he heard the call and stared at the student running onto the complex's parking lot. His mind had just recently registered to working on usual duties, but less fortunate for the young boss as Yasuhara had come to interfere with the normalcy of the ghost hunt cases. As far as ghost hunting could be called normal.

"What are you going to do about the sleeping arrangements?" he asked.

Naru looked around to see if Lin was anywhere around. Probably inside.

"How many rooms are available?"

"The second living room, Misono's, the landlady's place and my room is available. There's another guy who lives here and whom I haven't seen yet, but he seems to be working."

"Then the usual. Lin and I go in the base, Mai and Takahashi-san with Misono-san, Bou-san and you at your place with that guy. As for Matsuzaki..."

"Naru, sleep in my room," Yasuhara promptly said.

"Aren't you taking this too far?" Naru stared at him with hard eyes.

"If you're going to sleep somewhere. Not with another man," he smiled, and then clarified as he came closer to whisper, "..and I don't want to be in the same room as that senpai. He's rumoured to snore _loudly_."

Naru evaluated the options and sighed.

"Fine, let's have it your way," he said as he stalked away quickly, with two cameras, "Kuraya Satoru joins Lin and Bou-san in the base. Keeps them awake."

He suppressed his laughter after hearing that, unsure of whether Naru was intentionally joking or not.

"My room is upstairs. Second to the right!" Yasuhara smiled, signalling a victory sign with his hand. Soon after Naru and Lin left the base to haul in more equipment, he entered. They had heard Yasuhara's humming long before he entered the base with a huge smile on his face. Mai and the monk had begun setting up the computer screens and the other two were unpacking the cameras and other equipment.

"Good day all!" he announced, "Let's do our best as usual shall we?"

The monk, miko, and the girls gave him withered stares of various levels. Mai took a stand right before his nose and Taka cheered her on.

"Yasuhara-san! I thought we were friends!" she said, "Whatever happened yesterday?"

"Oh? You mean you hadn't given up on the boss? It was obvious things were stagnating on your end," he smiled, unperturbed.

Mai couldn't say anything, except grind her teeth furiously. Just what was he getting high up on his pedestal about!

"Naru doesn't seem any happier than this," the monk said, "You probably snatched him away when he got heartbroken."

"Bou-san!" At that baseless speculation Mai glared at him, but he pretended not to notice.

Yasuhara sighed. The sudden glint in his glasses covered the expression of his eyes.

"It hurts me to hear that you guys don't support our love," he said, head bowed, as he was about to exit the room, "Well, it was nice knowing you all. Goodbye."

_Eh?! He's serious?_ Mai stiffened.

"Ho- Hold on! We didn't mean it like that!" Takigawa held up a hand.

"Ara? You mean you're sad I'm not hitting on you any more?" Yasuhara turned on his heel and returned an odd smile. It almost looked like a scene he copied from a random comedic manga.

"Eh? No!" Takigawa cringed for a moment, until a light bulb went on in his mind. If Yasuhara stopped doing those jokes, then...

"Hm?"

"That's true isn't it?" The monk said with a small grin, slapping him on the back, "In that case I approve. You can count on me for support!"

"What's with the sudden change of sides?!" Ayako yelled, almost dropping the camera she had in her hands.

Takigawa looked at them as if the women were wearing dirty rags. "Well, for one thing, I agree with shounen. So here's my advice Mai, you should get her act together if you ever plan on getting a boyfriend!"

"I know that!" Mai said with a deepening tone of frustration. "Just until now you said he was heartbroken! What happened to that!?"

He ignored her again by putting his attention at the favour of the bespectacled young man.

"So, Mr. Love Advisor. Any advice for me?" Yasuhara asked.

"...uh. Just don't do anything distracting when we are around, I guess? You don't want another tsunami of jealousy going on," he nudged.

"Oh? Well, that's no problem," he grinned at the monk, "Naru and I will spend our nights in the privacy of my room."

Takigawa took his hand off the other boy's shoulder abruptly.

"Ah uh um."

Then they heard Lin's voice in the hallway.

"Oops, he's coming. I should go help the boss first. See you later~" Yasuhara waved a hand before leaving the room again.

Standing next to her friend, Ayako noticed the awkward silence and dropped the bomb.

"...should we fear for Naru's chastity?" she whispered to him.

"Oh good grief. No," The monk sobbed a little at that thought.

Lin didn't know what to make of the monk pinking away a tear from his eye corner.


	5. Chapter 5: Empty Homes

**Chapter 5: Empty Homes**

**A, the base**

As soon as he returned to the base Naru bullied everyone back into doing the job they were supposed to do, instead of uselessly hanging around like monkeys. The monk, Mai and Lin had to set up the camera's, while the miko and Taka got chased out to do preliminary temperature readings and room measurements. Unfortunately Mai wasn't in the mood to set up those stupid and heavy camera's with Takigawa who had been teasing her since yesterday. Did he really think this was so funny? Being around Lin was no good either. She couldn't just talk to him about that issue and he would definitely notice her awful mood. The girls were excluded as they were a pair of annoying busy bodies. There were days that Taniyama Mai hated, and this was no exception.

Mai watched the pair sit together at the low table on the floor. It looked comfortable enough to her, but she absolutely refused to sit where _they_ where. The young men were sitting too close to each other, less than half the distance between them than usual. However, Naru was pretending to _not_ look bothered, but Mai saw from his tensed shoulders that he was anything but happy about the situation. Usually, during the start of a case he was relatively calm. The case after finding out his brother's final resting place had been handled very coolly by Naru. Had Mai been in charge, or anyone else for that matter, they wouldn't have been in the right mind to do so. Perhaps, except for Lin.

The current Naru was a ticking time bomb. This wasn't good. She wasn't sure if Naru would function as well as he would under these circumstances. Usually his brainwork was the key to solving the case. She stared at Yasuhara one more time and was determined to find out why the hell he was doing this.

"Mai, what are you doing here?" Naru suddenly said.

She frowned back at him. In fact, she had been sitting in a chair behind them for an entire span of ten minutes and was actually sighing of relief that he finally noticed her. Under a normal situation Naru would have noticed within one minute after her arrival in the base. That was the work-a-holic and meticulous boss she knew.

At the sigh Yasuhara spared her brief glance before analyzing the map of the building. Mai ignored him and went to stand next to Naru who showed her a printed sheet of paper.

"Take this list with the apartment numbers and its residents. I want to conduct interviews here as soon as possible. Check if there are any present, otherwise leave a message."

"Uh, they wouldn't just disappear over the weekend..."

"Most residents are students who go back to their parents on weekends. Use your common sense, Mai."

Naru stared at her blankly as she started fuming under her breath.

"Geez, sorry for not having the privilege of not having any family to go back to! I didn't think of that," she snapped, and immediately stomped away after snatching the sheet from his hand.

Yasuhara rested his chin on his hands.

"Shibuya-san..."

"It's all because of you..." Naru muttered in response.

"I know you don't like it, but just take this naturally," he said with a soft smile.

Naru glared.

"Naturally, how?"

"Hmm," Yasuhara pondered, "Well, you could belittle me, argue with me about the most insignificant things and have me fetch tea every hour or so. In other words, try to imagine I'm Taniyama Mai, your cute part time worker and the perfect foil to your character. Please remember that I'm rather good actor. I will assist you in our little theatre."

Yasuhara seemed absolutely positive with the offer. The boss stared at him for a moment, then a little smirk crept up his face.

"Nice try, Yasuhara-san, but you could never play such an idiot," Naru said, and slightly amused he added, "Mai is... too exceptional at that part."

**Staircase**

Mai went sullenly to the roof of the complex, muttering on the way up. She had noticed Lin and the monk in on the first floor of the right wing, and decided to avoid them altogether.

"Damn that Naru. He didn't have to remind me of that. He should have known better than that. That same tactless Naru..."

Suddenly she bumped into someone, as she turned around the corner on the staircase.

"Hey, watch it!" she said.

"Honey, shouldn't you apologize?"

Mai gave him a quick glare, but her face fell when she realized it was Misono Nanako's brother. Yes, she'd recognize that six-pack possessing suntanned fellow from anywhere; Kuraya Satoru. Judging by the smell on him he just had a smoke on top of the roof.

"Sorry about that."

"Ah, haven't I seen you before?" he said slightly confused.

Mai sighed, "That horrible pick up line is not going to work on me, just so you know."

However, he raised an eyebrow and stared her up and down.

"...um, Nanako's friend?"

"...eh no?" She cringed. So he didn't remember her after all despite flirting with her just yesterday!

"Who are you then?"

"Taniyama Mai of Shibuya Psychic Research. We met yesterday."

Satoru's eyes lit up as if he was a kid in a candy shop.

"Oh now I remember!" He laughed, "The secretary, weren't you?"

"Ahahaha, yes I was," Mai laughed back involuntarily.

The man seemed pleased about something by the look in his eyes.

"Your colleagues must be here already. I shall go greet them then."

"Of course. They are in the communal room."

He seemed pleased with the information.

"Cool. So what were you going to do on the roof?"

"Nothing in particular... I just wanted a good view of this building... and I need to check up on the residents too."

"Ah, you should go see the landlady about that. Lots of folks recently moved in and out or are hanging around elsewhere for the weekend. The residents check in and out with her when they go on an extended leave. At the moment, I think Yasuhara-kun's pretty much the only person around on the upper floor."

"You know Yasuhara-san?"

"Yup, he was my junior in middle school."

"...what a coincidence.. Yasuhara-kun also knows the landlady."

"Ah, she was a fellow classmate of mine," he explained, but seemed to regret it as soon as he spoke those words. Satoru's brows twitched.

"I see..."

"Think I'll go greet your boss today... how is he?"

His expression slightly softened with an odd smile.

Although it was an odd question Mai rolled her eyes and blurted out an answer, "Not in the best of moods today."

"Hehe, what can I do to make it better?"

"Please don't ask me. I don't recommend talking to him when he's like that. Excuse me, I have to get going," Mai said as she went back down.

"You don't wanna check out the roof?" he asked.

"I'll save that for another time," she smiled.

**B, Hazuki Chizuru's apartment**

Mai stared at the map and the given list with residents. In total there were fourteen apartments and of those there were three vacancies. She found that very strange. Normally in a city like Tokyo, wouldn't there be like dozens of people lining up to live in a place near the business district? Come to think of it, this might be close to a certain university as well. Back on the ground floor and near the entrance of the complex she passed the apartment A, the common room and currently reserved as SPR's base room. By now Yasuharu and Naru had to be nearly cuddling together, she thought, much to her dismay.

Mai knocked on the door of apartment B, right next to it. Hazuki Chizuru, the landlady and the resident welcomed her in.

"I hope I don't disturb you? I've got a few questions for you."

"I'm busy, but I can make time," she smiled, "Come in."

Hazuki's place was despite the resident's colorful appearance, very neat. It looked very much like her own home, full of warm colors. Mai took an instant liking to the interior. In the centre of the room there was a kotatsu with a bottle of water and what looked to be a huge pile of books.

The landlady invited her to sit down.

"Um, I was wondering if you could help with this list," Mai passed her the sheet of paper Naru gave her.

"Ah, the residents?" She grabbed a pencil and began to cross down and make notes next to it as she explained.

Ground floor

A B C

X X D

G F E

First floor

H I J

X X K

N M L

"As you know, apartments A and B are reserved for the Hazuki family. My parents used to live in A, but they have returned to their hometown to look after my sick grandparents. I've decided to stay as the landlady as of a couple of months ago."

"Oh it's a family business. It's unusual to see a young landlord or landlady," Mai noted.

"Yeah, people say so all the time," Hazuki said with a small grin, "Anyway, A became the common room, because I thought it would be nice to form a little community here."

Mai nodded.

Hazuki pointed out, "C is occupied by Toyohashi Kensuke, who is on a trip to Kobe for business. Next to him is Fujieda Akio in D, which is directly across the entrance. Fujieda-kun is probably present. Hmm, E is vacant. I've been interviewing some applicants for that one."

She wrote down Toyohashi next to C, with a little cross, and Fujieda next to D with a circle. E was crossed out entirely.

"Michizawa Souji lives in F..." Hazuki said, and frowned a little, "Those two don't get along much."

"Huh?"

"Michizawa and Fujieda don't mesh. The former is a hard working top student, and a bit too straight forward. Don't worry though, they won't be problematic. Just keep them away from each other."

"I see. Is Michizawa present...?"

"He's probably around, but you've got to catch him at the right time. I don't know how he does it, but he's got a part time job and at the same time is excellent at his studies," Hazuki sighed.

"Ah, what does he do?"

"Computer science? I forgot. He does difficult stuff. Not my kind of thing," she said while smiling.

"Haha, that's kind of admirable."

"Pretty much! Say Taniyama-san? Isn't juggling a job and studying at the same time just so difficult?"

Mai laughed. "It's not so bad as you think it is... I got used to it."

"Haa, I wonder how people do it... I'm a total slacker. Being a landlady is perfect for me."

"Aren't Yasuhara-san and Hazuki-san in the same faculty?"

"Faculty of Law indeed. He was looking for a place to stay in and I offered him this one. Turned out we come from the same city."

"Is Kuraya-san the same as well?"

"Yeah, he's my ex-boyfriend from middle school," she explained with a small shrug.

So that's why he was so awkward just a while ago. Mai wondered if Satoru still liked her.

The landlady continued, "Satoru is a good kid, but sometimes he needs to shut up and listen to other people. He's not changed that aspect of him unfortunately. He completely insisted on coming here to help his little sister move in."

"I see..."

"That's why I dumped him," she said, "That was a long time ago though... I'm still acquainted with his sister Nanako from back then... that's how she got apartment G. She's a good girl."

"Ah, so that's how it is."

"Moving onto the first floor. Directly above the common room is where Thomas lives in H. Next to the staircase. He said he would be away for an exchange trip. I, J and K are all occupied by girls. Tanaka Mieka, Shimabara Risa and Morikawa Miki. Except for maybe Risa-san they're probably around."

"Then that leaves Yasuhara-san in M."

"Yes, L and N are empty. He doesn't have any neighbours for now. Indeed. Come to think of it," Hazuki said with a slight frown, "That's directly above Michizawa... He's lived here for the longest time out of all people."

This time, Mai noticed a very odd arrangement, but Hazuki interrupted her thoughts.

"Ah, I need to stop talking so much and get back to my work! Is this enough, Taniyama-san? I hope I didn't waste your time."

Mai shook her head.

"No no, thank you very much, Hazuki-san."

When she left Hazuki's place her eyes fell directly on the right wing of the building on the other side. In other words, the right wing was like this:

LMN

EFG

Michizawa lived in apartment F, directly below where Yasuhara moved in M. Nanoko recently started living in G and experienced paranormal events. Mai held her breath when she realised just how many vacancies had been before that. Before the new residents moved in, Michizawa was without any neighbours.


	6. Chapter 6: illusion is mine

**Chapter 6: illusion is mine**

**F, Michizawa Souji**

Mai knocked on the door of apartment F. The door opened a few seconds later and revealed a glasses-wearing individual on the other side. His stubbly chin and bed hair indicated he hadn't shaven and that he hadn't been expecting any visitors. Mai thought he would have been so much better looking if he cleaned up his rather sluggish appearance.

"Who are you?"

Although he only seemed to be around Naru's height, he had begun to stare her down. The glasses had thick black rims and obviously did not suit his face.

"Taniyama Mai is my name. I'm an invest-"

Not even letting Mai finish her sentence the man groaned, scratching the back of his head.

"No door-to-door sales please," he said, "Well then, goodbye."

The door began to draw shut on her and Mai put her hand in between.

"Wait a minute! I'm not a salesperson. Could you please listen to me?"

The man blinked through the door gap.

"You're not?"

She nodded and explained herself, "I'm a paranormal investigator for Shibuya Psychic Research. The landlady has asked us to investigate some matters. Could I ask you a few questions, Michizawa-san?"

"...psychic research."

Michizawa looked down for a moment as if in deep thought.

"Please?"

"So that's what this is about. Just a minute. Sorry, I am a bit busy here," he explained and opened the door fully.

"It's about what happened to your neighbour in G."

"Ah, that girl who moved in a couple of days ago? I had heard her making a fuss."

"My boss Shibuya would like to interview you as soon as possible."

Something in his eyes lit up when he heard that.

"Fine," Michizawa said and folded his arms, "How about right after the dinner in the common room?"

That.. wasn't too bad. Straightforward indeed, as Hazuki had said.

"We'll see you then," Mai replied with a polite smile, "But... I was wondering if you could tell me something about your previous neighbours."

"I haven't had any for a long time. If there were, they always left within a month or two."

"Why?"

"Maybe they got scared like the girl in G."

"Scared of what?"

He shrugged.

"That's not for me to answer."

Mai didn't get much of a response after that, as if he didn't want to let reveal anything. Michizawa had to know something! After all, he lived here longer than anyone else. She hoped that Naru would beat that information out of him.

**D, Fujieda Akio**

Indeed the next person seemed to think so too. Fujieda was a man of short stature, hair pulled back with gel and with a short moustache. He looked like he could be in his early thirties. As soon as Mai brought up the topic of the right wing, he started to rant.

"I know! Michizawa has been like the only person in the right wing for the _looongest_ time. It's as if he's trying to scare away all his neighbours, but I'm not leavin'. He can kiss my ass. Seriously what's with his appearance just now? He looks like an otaku to me."

Okay, that was creepy, she thought. He had been watching her and Michizawa talk?

"Um..." Mai interrupted his monologue, "How long have you lived here?"

"Me? About four years."

Fujieda immediately agreed to an interview and marched to the common room with Mai tailing behind.

**A, the base**

"Good afternoooooo-n?" he loudly proclaimed, but he was met with the sight of three men at the low table.

"Senpai, we're busy here!" Yasuhara's voice sounded. Mai couldn't mistake that tone for something else than a warning. Perched right between the two was Kuraya Satoru. Naru pushed the other aside as soon as he noticed Fujieda and Mai coming into the base.

"Damn this guy's got issues," Fujieda whispered, but enough for Mai to hear. She could only agree. Why in the world was Kuraya Satoru bothering her boss and Yasuhara?

"He's here for an interview, Mai?" Naru said, eyeing the man next to her.

"Yes, from apartment D," she said.

"Excellent," he said and looked at him, "My name is Shibuya Kazuya."

The man quickly assessed the young boss before him.

"Rather young aren't you? I'm Fujieda Akio. Pleased to meet you."

"Then, Fujieda-san, please sit down."

Mai led him to the table. Meanwhile Yasuhara had ushered Kuraya out, closing the door behind him and broke into a cheery smile when he returned.

"Well that is that!"

"He really has no sense of personal space, hasn't he?" Fujieda said, "I'm glad he's not living here. Cute sister though."

Mai wryly smiled at him, but Naru merely sighed, "Let's start from the beginning"

All of them sat around the table. Fujieda was offered some tea, but he declined it.

"How long I have been living here? Well, for at least four years. I got the apartment when Chizuru-san's parents were still around."

"If I'm not mistaken, you're one of the people who've stayed the longest in this apartment block," Yasuhara said.

"Yes, only beaten by Michizawa and of course Chizuru-san herself."

"When did the problems start?" Naru asked.

"Problems? Do you mean the lack of residents on the right wing? Uhh, let me think... probably three years ago," he said, "It's been getting worse lately, so now the residents start changing every one to three months... depending on how long they can hold out with the strange stuff happening at night."

"What kind of things happened?"

Fujieda rolled his eyes from left to right as if he had trouble recalling.

"Uhh... mostly noises, but sometimes really weird illusions? Some said they were woken up strange choking noises, and then they saw an illusion by the window."

"No burns?" Yasuhara asked.

He gave the student a quizzical stare.

"Burns? That's completely new to me."

Mai frowned. Kuraya Satoru had certainly received burns that night. Why didn't it happen to the other residents? It was strange how Nanako wasn't harmed in the process. Both of them had woken up to the strange noises, but only Satoru had been wounded.

"So no one was actually harmed?"

"No, I cannot recall any of that sort. ...did something happen to the sister?"

"It was her brother," Naru replied.

Fujieda stared at the boss. "Really?"

Naru didn't reply to that and crossed out something in his notebook.

"That aside," Yasuhara said, "What kind of illusions had been seen?"

Fujieda gave a dry smile.

"They tend to differ according to person, but what has remained consistent is the appearance of a hanging man."

Mai unintentionally shivered.

"I did find something about a suicide case, and the date coincides like Fujieda-san had said, with three years ago," Yasuhara said, and looked straight at the man, "What do you know about Michizawa Takuya? I assume he's related to one of your neighbours?"

Fujieda grimaced.

"You're right. He was Michizawa Souji's older brother by three years. I've only known him for about a year though."

So... his older brother had committed suicide, Mai thought, that's terrible.

"What kind of person was he?" She asked.

"Pretty much different from the younger brother. He was rather... weak-minded. His social skills were no good, and he wasn't exactly talented either," Fujieda said, and smirked, "A hopeless guy, I say, no wonder he hung himself."

Mai bit her lips. That was really rude to say about a deceased person! Neither Naru or Yasuhara responded to Fujieda's remarks, so she held her mouth.

"Fujieda-san," Naru said, "How are your relations to the younger brother?"

"I'll be frank with you. We don't get each other. He hates me and I hate him. Chizuru-san has tried reconciling us, but our personalities clash too much. Michizawa will be at dinner right? Well, I won't be there."

Mai raised her eyebrows. Well, Chizuru wasn't joking.

"Does Michizawa get along with his other neighbours..?" Yasuhara asked cautiously. Being a new resident, this would be helpful to know.

Fujieda peered at him. "Yasuhara-san, the thing is, he gets along with almost everybody else except for the wing he lives in."

The smile on the student's face withered. "Ah, that's just my luck. I live right above him."

"Sorry buddy."

"Is that very common?" Mai asked.

"Apparently he does not like having neighbours. If the illusion doesn't chase people away, Michizawa will."

She frowned.

"Has this matter been addressed with Chizuru-san?"

Fujieda groaned. "That's another thing. He's super nice to her and everyone else. His reputation is spotless!"

"But Chizuru-san shouldn't be that partial to anyone..." Yasuhara noted.

Fujieda shook his head and gestured them to come closer. Yasuhara and Mai leaned in to hear what he had to say.

"Don't tell this to anyone, but... Chizuru-san is quite fond of that guy, if you know what I mean..." he whispered with a smirk.

"Oh, I see~" Yasuhara smiled rather mischievously.

Mai could barely believe what she just heard, though Chizuru did say she'd rather admired Michizawa, but whether she liked him that way? Mai remained ambivalent about the issue.

"But I do know that Michizawa is already seeing someone. The walls aren't very soundproof, so I think that's why he keeps scaring the neighbours," Fujieda joked.

The two of them leaned away at the same time.

"So he has a girlfriend huh?" Yasuhara said.

"Yeah, a gorgeous one at that too," Fujieda said, then winked at Naru, "Want to know more?"

Having become rather irritated at the direction the conversation had veered into, the boss simply said, "No thanks, that sort of information will not be necessary for the case. "

The man gave Naru a small grin and Mai couldn't help but finding him creepy.

"I have a question. I saw you guys carrying in camera's into the empty rooms... will they be turned on at night?"

This guy has a lot of free time to be staring outside his window, Mai thought.

"Yes, that's the idea," Yasuhara replied.

"Ah, then I'll have to warn you that there might be some problems with the electricity! Our ghost might be messing with them," he added with a grin.

"Well, that's not entirely uncommon I guess," Mai said.

"We'll see about that," Naru looked up and said, "Thank you for the assistance, Fujieda-san."

"It's no problem!" the man replied, got up and left the room in a hurry.

Mai was relieved that Yasuhara's strange neighbour had left.

"That guy is weird, seriously!" She declared, and then said to her colleague, "I am so sorry, Yasuhara-san."

"It can't be helped, I suppose," he wryly smiled, "That said, I still have to meet Michizawa-san. How was he? Bearable?"

Mai sighed. "I'm not sure what to make of him, but he was okay, I guess? I don't think he's the type that has a gorgeous girlfriend though. He looks like a nerd and dresses like a bum."

Naru started tapping with a pen on the table.

"Can the two of you get back to work?" he coldly said.

"Yes sir!" They replied.

The three of them read the notes that were made.

"So the burns are a new thing huh?" Mai said.

Yasuhara pulled out a copy of an old newspaper article and showed it to her.

"It might be related to this. This was before the apartment block got built. What do you think?"

Mai read it. The article described the death of a family with two daughters and a son. Apparently the jobless father had murdered his wife and children and then set the place ablaze, resulting into the demise of the entire block of family homes. It was assumed that he had gotten desperate after not being able to find a job, struggling to pay the rent and had resorted to such measures, but it may have included other factors.

"I... I don't know."

Naru sighed. "Does it say anywhere how they were murdered?"

"Let's see... The children had been poisoned and the mother had been choked with a rope," Yasuhara replied, looking at another paper, "The man had... hung himself."

Mai narrowed her eyes. Well, there was another connection...

"Did anything notable happen after this apartment block was built?" she asked.

"Nothing of the sort."

Naru showed them a copy of the data of the current apartment block.

"Hazuki-san's parents took over from the original landowners about 10 years ago. It's safe to say that Michizawa Takuya's death is the only notable event after the family tragedy."

Mai nodded. "Yes, and he didn't take his brother with him..."

They looked at each other.

"I guess this one's up for debate?"

"Leave it aside," Naru said, crossing his arms, "We'll have to wait for some actual results tonight."

"I agree," Mai said.

Suddenly the door opened, revealing the other SPR memebrs. Lin immediately went to the monitors in the corner of the room and started checking whether the feeds worked.

"Hey guys, we're done with the camera set-ups~" The monk announced.

"That took long enough..." Naru said.

Ayako followed after the man.

"That was this guy's fault," she pointed at him, "he said he was having trouble with setting up the camera."

"You're wrong, old hag!" he yelled at her, "I though there was something wrong with the camera, and it turned out that the electricity in the room wasn't working! Ask Lin, Naru-bou!"

Naru frowned. "Is that so?"

"Yeah, right...?" Takigawa said, still nudging for Lin to reply to the boss. "It started working a couple of minutes ago though."

Lin was simply staring at the monitors and adjusting some of the settings.

"Yes, as of this moment everything seems to be working fine," the man said.

Yasuhara and Mai waited for Naru to mention something about what Fujieda had said about the electricity failures, but all he said was: "Good, all of you can now unpack your belongings in the rooms I've assigned you into. After dinner we will be interviewing one more person."

As the base was actually the common room of the apartment block, the dinner took place around the messier than usual lower table. Luckily for the young men present, a certain idiot was not available to flirt with them. Hazuki Chizuru had coaxed Kuraya Satoru into cooking curry rice for the group with her and they had busied themselves in the kitchen.

The lower table was of course occupied by Naru, Yasuhara and Lin. Ayako had also managed to claim a part of the table to put her dish on. Misono Nanako was talking to her female neighbours Mieka and Miki in one corner of the room and looked like she was really getting along with them. Mai and Takigawa had opted to sit in the corner with Taka to discuss their own theories without the critical remarks of the boss.

At the exact moment the curry rice was served, Michizawa Souji entered the base with a slight frown. Clearly he hadn't expected it to be busy, for he could find no seat left over. So after taking his portion of the curry rice he went to sit down in one corner with Hazuki, which was opposite of where Mai and her friends were seated.

"Is that guy Michizawa?" Taka asked her.

"Yeah, it's him," Mai replied.

"Why does he dress like that though? He's clearly hot," she giggled.

"What. Obviously he is not-"

Taka stared at her with mouth wide open.

"Goodness Mai, I know you have only eyes for the boss, but you can't be serious about him looking like a nerd!" she whispered to them.

"Really?" Takigawa said as he spared Michizawa a brief glance.

Said young man wasn't paying attention to the rest of the room, so they were free to watch him as much as they pleased. The more Mai stared, the more she agreed with Taka. Apparently, Michizawa was dressing oddly on purpose, but for what reason?

"He ranks right behind Lin-san and Kuraya-san in terms of looks," Taka said, whispering in her ear, "Definitely a hot guy!"

Mai disagreed, "No no, he's second to Naru. No doubt about that. Kuraya-san isn't that good looking."

"...you know, now that you've mentioned it, I've seen that guy before," Takigawa said.

The girls looked at the monk, who had emptied his bowl of curry rice at that moment. He was a terrifyingly fast eater. Then again, he did warn them that curry rice was one of his all-time favourites.

"Where?" Taka asked.

The monk licked his lips.

"Not sure... Could he have been at one of my concerts? Or someone I met at a bar? Must have been pretty recent though."

Mai gave it some thought, but decided not to think much of it and simply enjoyed her dinner. When she noticed that Yasuhara's rather prominent enthusiasm was now nowhere to be seen, Mai started to worry a little. He was barely even talking to Ayako who was ranting to the other people at the lower table.

The room slowly emptied after the dinner. Hazuki, Misono and the other female neighbours had been interviewed, but they had nothing new to tell. On top of that they did not mention anything about electricity faults or illusions. There were only noises.

Finally, Taka and Ayako had been dismissed to do the dishes in the kitchen, much to their dismay. Naru thought they were too noisy and deserved to be expelled from the base for a short period of time. Lin had taken his usual seat in front of the laptop and monitors. Yasuhara and Naru were sitting at the low table. Naru and Lin were quiet as usual, but Yasuhara was noticeably uneasy about something.

"Takigawa-san, could you take my place in the interview?" Yasuhara asked with a smile. "That is, if Shibuya-san agrees to it."

Takigawa looked up in surprise. "Ah sure..."

Naru simply nodded. "As a precaution I think it would be better to join Matsuzaki-san and Takahashi-san in the kitchen."

Most of them were clearly puzzled by the conversation, but Mai could probably attribute it to Michizawa's apparent behaviour to his neighbours. Yasuhara obviously did not want to cause any trouble.

When Michizawa entered, Yasuhara had already gone to help the girls in the kitchen and Takigawa had taken his spot at the table. The interview commenced with the usual introductions if it hadn't occurred already and some basic questions. Michizawa answered them concisely and with little difficulty. There were again no mentions of electricity failures or illusions. When the subject of the lack of neighbours was prompted, he seemed rather apathetic.

"The place where I live...?"

"With no neighbours to the left right and above... Don't you think that is a bit odd? What are the reasons for leaving those rooms empty?" Takigawa asked.

"I wondered about that too... I lived there for such a long time, ever since brother and I left our parents to live here. They all went out one by one soon after brother died."

"So in short, Michizawa Takuya died in the place you live in now."

"Yes."

"I don't want to be rude, but could you tell me what caused him to commit suicide?"

Michizawa did not seem to have any qualms to talk about that.

"Our parents... were very harsh on him, and after their divorce we were caused to live on our own. Mother went back to her home country and father married another woman," he replied, "My brother wasn't doing well at school and was bullied due to that and his looks."

"What is your mother's origin?"

"She's half-Scottish, half-Flemish. I look more like my father, so people often don't recognize that I have foreign blood unless I tell them," he said, "It wasn't the same for my brother though."

Apart from the light brown eyes, Mai wouldn't have guessed it at all.

"But you continued living in the same place, despite what had happened."

"Due to the low prices, I have decided to stay here."

"I'm sorry, but... did you see an illusion or a ghost? Anything?" Mai asked, feeling that he must have at least noticed something like that.

Michizawa glanced at her and sighed.

"...I occasionally have what you call, hallucinations... but I can assure you that these are not of the paranormal kind. In fact I'm seeing a psychiatrist every two weeks."

With that, he looked at Naru, who was sitting in front of him. The boss hadn't said anything apart from the very beginning as Mai suddenly noticed. Both Lin and Takigawa seemed to have become aware of his lack of involvement. Especially the Chinese man seemed very eager to say something to Naru, but decided against it in Michizawa's presence.

"Shibuya-san, there's nothing wrong with this building, and I know Fujieda has said a lot of things behind my back just to spite me. What do you think of all of this? "

"At the moment I have no answer," he replied, "and you do not need to concern yourself with Fujieda-san."

His eyes lingered heavily on Naru for a long time. Naru's expression had grown dark before he asked another question, "Michizawa-san, do you get along with your neighbours?"

The young man leaned his elbow on the table, and supported his chin with a hand.

"Well. As you may have heard, I have a bone to pick with Fujieda. Kuraya is completely insufferable from what I've heard and seen. So it seems his sister will have to put up with a neighbour like me."

"...and Yasuhara-san?" Mai said quietly, having sensed the malice in his voice. From the corner of her eyes, she saw a glimpse of Yasuhara looking through the gap of the door to the kitchen.

A smirk appeared on his face, but she was able to see the weary far-off look in his brown eyes that only seemed to pay attention to the person in front of him. What Michizawa said next sent a shiver down her spine.

"He should have learned that there's a limit to this nonsense, right? Shibuya-san."


	7. Chapter 7: Beautiful Stranger

**Chapter 7: Beautiful Stranger**

_**One year and six months ago: September the 19th, 1998**_

That morning he was supposed to buy flowers and visit the grave, but there was a distraction. The distraction was a boy. He would come on Mondays and Thursdays at lunch time.

Michizawa Souji pulled the door of the lunch room open and went downstairs to change in his waiter uniform. He had been working on the job for about a year ever since he was living alone. Thinking back to when he applied for the job, he wondered whether his boss picked him purely based on the exotic looks. However, Souji had never been there and neither did his parents come from France. His father was Japanese and his mother was Scottish. Not more than often his face, light brown eyes and dark brown hair drew unwanted attention. Not more than often Souji was mistaken for being partly French which was rather irritating, but something he had to live with while he was working at this lunch room.

In January, three months after he started working he had caught two first time visitors speaking English. The situation quickly reminded him of his mother. He hadn't spoken to mother for several years after she left Japan. Souji couldn't figure out much what they were talking about at first with the difficult words thrown into the conversation. They were an odd pair and the age difference made it unclear how they were possibly related to each other. Although their accents wasn't blatant, Souji could tell they came from somewhere in the UK. After a couple of visits, they stopped speaking in English and went on in Japanese. Later, the taller man didn't come as often as the boy did. Presumably French cuisine was not his favourite.

So only the boy came in regularly during the quiet hours of the day and never between half past eleven and one.

The girls often remarked how beautiful he was, how long his eyelashes were and his deep blue eyes. The manager had been hiring young ladies, but they were incapable of not looking at the boy as if he were delicious candy. He always caused some nuisance with his looks. Even among the guests. Souji didn't mind taking him if it was as a means of keeping the girls away. He was always in black, as if dressed for a funeral. Though the depressing look didn't deter them from constantly watching him whenever they had nothing to do. They had wondered if his closet was full of black.

Since nobody knew his name, the girls dubbed him _'the beautiful stranger_'.

Even Souji had to admit he was very _interesting_ to look at. Souji couldn't really explain the atmosphere around him. As if the boy wasn't really there. His existence was fleeting. Like flowers.

Today in the early morning the boy came as expected, entering calmly with a serious face. He barely looked at the waiters, sat down at the table in the corner and pulled out an agenda. A sullen facial expression appeared on his face briefly, but the frown remained as if he was really bothered by something.

Souji fumbled with the notepad in his hand and went to the boy's table.

"Just the usual," he replied, when Souji asked about drinks.

Black tea.

"..and your meal?"

"Just this."

He pointed at somewhere on the menu.

Souji wrote it down hastily. Suddenly, the pen somehow slipped out of his hand and clattered onto the boy's table. It rolled over the table and halted at the agenda's side.

"Ah, I'm so sorry about that!"

They reached for the pen at the same time, but the boy was faster. After touching the pen, he pulled away quickly and lowered his face, clutching at his head with his hands. Souji stared at him. What was he doing?

The boy groaned, reaching for his head.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"..._Aniki_," the boy whispered.

Souji's eyes went wide. Why was he calling for his brother?

The boy began murmuring something. It sounded as if he was in pain.

"What's wrong? Can I help you?" the waiter tried again.

His eyes were shut and his hands were on his ears.

"Take.. me... away from here," he said slowly, with a very pained expression.

"Ah, Miaka-san!" Souji called the other waitress, who had approached them with a glass of water. "Let's help him to the dressing room."

They helped him up and quickly made for the dressing room in the back. The boy could barely walk himself. A concerned Miaka dimmed the lights slightly.

"Is this all right?"

"Yes thanks. Just put the water over there on the table," Souji said to her, "...and could you take over my duties, please?"

"Of course," Miaka said. She placed the water on the table and left.

The boy was sitting on the sofa and held a hand to his forehead.

"Need to lie down?"

He nodded weakly and was helped on the sofa. The boy held his arm over his face.

After lying down like that for a couple of minutes he appeared to have calmed down. Souji calmly spoke.

"May I know your name?"

The boy bit his lip.

"Shibuya."

"Shibuya-san, how do you feel now?"

"...better."

"Need a drink?"

"Yeah."

Souji offered him a glass of water, which the boy took.

"Thanks. Sorry about earlier," he said after gulping down the water.

"It's no big deal."

However, a cold voice cut through the dressing room.

"Why didn't you go this morning?" Shibuya asked.

"...eh?"

"Stupid."

Souji stared at him wordlessly as he tried to figure out what in the world Shibuya was trying to say to him. This morning he was supposed to...

He didn't mean that... and how could he? That's impossible.

"That was extremely bothersome," he said irritated, "You should go if you can."

Souji was about to lash out at the guy, but stopped himself when he saw those stormy wet eyes.

"...why are you..."

Shibuya got up immediately after realising the same. Before Souji knew it he escaped through the door and ran off.

"Wait! What do you mean-"

Souji followed him out, but didn't see him in the lunch room.

"Michizawa-san, what happened?" a confused Miaka asked.

"I don't know," he said and opened the door.

Shibuya had disappeared into the crowd outside.

From behind him he heard his colleague's voice.

"He just went outside and left his belongings here. We should get it back to him."

He looked at her.

"I can't find him anywhere. Do you know which direction he went to?"

Miaka shook her head and suggested that he would probably come back to retrieve his belongings.

Shibuya had left behind an agenda and a pencil.

They had no idea what to do with the agenda. It was there on the table for all to see and open at the agenda's profile. Souji was surprised at what he read.

Name: Oliver Edward Clive Davis

Nickname: Noll (crossed out)

A different name.

Birthday: 19th September, 1981

That was today. Souji closed the agenda before his curiosity could take him further. There was no point in reading if he came back to retrieve it.

One week passed by and the boy hadn't visited again. He zoned out plenty of times while looking out of the window. One of the girls said she had spotted him in Dougenzaka, but nobody quite believed her. Wasn't that place known for having a lot of love hotels?

A couple of months later Souji took it home with him, deciding that he'd never come back and that leaving it in the restaurant or dumping it somewhere wasn't that great of an idea. The boss wouldn't notice a thing.

_**One year later: September the 19th, 1999**_

After closing down the office he went to take a walk alone. It seemed as if everybody left him alone that day. None of the irregulars showed up and there were barely any visitors. His parents gave him a short call in the afternoon, which was pleasant though they were obviously very sad.

His feet took him where he hadn't been to in a long while. Naru had nearly forgotten about the incident of a year ago and he hadn't visited the place after that. A casual looking young man donned in a black suit with a loose blue neck tie was standing in front of the closed lunch room.

Their eyes met.

"I believe this is yours, Shibuya-san," he said.

The memory became fresh again when he saw a small agenda held up in front of him.

"I'm surprised you kept it for so long," Naru said and took the agenda back, "So you did go today."

The young man frowned.

"Yes, I did."

It was obvious that he wanted to ask how he knew that, but he didn't ask. He felt too guilty to ask.

"I see. May I know your name?" Naru said instead.

"Michizawa Souji."

"Michizawa-san, thank you."

Naru was about to leave when Michizawa spoke up.

"If you don't mind, Shibuya-san... lets have dinner together."

Naru stopped.

"...why?"

"I-isn't today your birthday?" Michizawa said, "I'm sorry, I saw that in your agenda."

He had left it open on that page. Naru remembered being extremely disappointed at himself after seeing that date.

"...there's no need to."

"You shouldn't be alone on a day like this," he said, "I absolutely insist."

"Michizawa-san..."

"I honestly don't want to be alone either, but if you don't want to... that's okay."

Naru peered at the other for a while. He seemed very embarrassed, but looked as if he really wanted to. Finally he sighed.

"Fine, where are we going?"

Quickly he discovered that Michizawa knew a whole lot more about the ins and outs of the neighbourhood. The place Michizawa took him was suited Naru's tastes. It was a quiet Western-styled Japanese restaurant that didn't have obnoxious teenage girl waitresses. The pumpkin soup was the seasonal starters. Michizawa noted how pumpkin didn't suit the current warm September weather in Tokyo as they read the menu provided on the table.

"Do you like pumpkin...?"

"Not particularly."

"Hm, they have a pumpkin special menu for Halloween. Isn't it too early for about? Shibuya-san, what about pumpkin pie or pumpkin tempura?"

Naru raised an eyebrow. "Tempura?"

"You never tried pumpkin tempura?" Michizawa widened his eyes, "Try that."

"Fine."

"Ah, let me make this clear first. I'll pay for the both of us."

Naru raised an eyebrow, but the other didn't seem to notice as he called the waiter. After the man left to fetch their drinks, Michizawa turned his attention back to the subject.

"I have to admit that I read your agenda, so please consider this as an act of kindness."

"I see," Naru said, not completely surprised, "You're very curious."

"I am often guilty of that indeed," he gave an embarrassed grin. "But you can trust me I haven't shown it to anyone else."

Naru sighed, "I left it open on the table, and didn't think of taking it back."

"Why did you leave it there..? I kept it to myself, but after a while I just had to read... considering what happened."

"No reason."

"Really."

Naru nodded. He had no clue why he did that. Even now he could barely remember what happened that day.

"The notes were too... interesting," Michizawa said.

"Ah..."

"Well, to quench my curiosity. Tell me... did you find him?"

"Yes."

Naru didn't elaborate.

"I see... that's good. I won't ask about how you were able to see those kind of things though..."

Then he shrugged.

"Pumpkin tempura then?"

"...why pumpkins?"

"Ah well... I read about that too..."

Naru's hand went to the agenda on the table and opened it at the pages where he normally did not look. He vaguely recalled the nonsensical scribbles by Gene, due to Naru's tendency to categorise irrelevant beings as 'pumpkins' (not his idea).

"Birthday calendar of...," Michizawa pointed out the added word written with an orange marker, "Pumpkins."

Naru nearly groaned when he saw the calendar page filled with names of researchers, old classmates and 'friends'. Most of them were people he generally ignored.

"That's not me."

"Obviously. That confused me, because the handwriting wasn't always consistent. I figured it out when I looked at September the 19th."

Naru sighed. Despite having been twins and growing up together, their penmanship was remarkably different. Gene opted to use the block letters, but Naru had retained the cursive style they had once learned. Even so, they could mimic each other's handwriting quite perfectly for practical purposes, like faking attendance list sheets on regular basis.

After the incident, Naru never thought of using a personal agenda again. His memory was very accurate and thus there was no need for that kind of thing. One might wonder why he had it. Well, it wasn't him who bought it.

Before leaving for Japan, Gene had wandered into a book-store and bought the agenda, because it looked 'neat'. It was a one and a half year agenda with much space left for notes, which seemed handy for during the time he was in Japan. He'd use it as a diary to record his thoughts during his trip in Japan. Gene bought two. One for him and the other for his brother. He rather liked having the same kind of items shared with his twin, whereas Noll just didn't care. Gene filled out the profiles for both of them, complete with their birthdays. Noll had rolled his eyes when Gene eventually asked for the birthdays of their fellow researchers so Noll's agenda wouldn't look empty. "Stop being a hermit," Gene had joked back then, and insisted Noll to use the agenda to get more birthdays. In response he said, "Idiot. I'm not using that."

So Noll had placed the agenda back on Gene's desk when he had left for Japan.

After some time he returned to borrow a shirt. The painful vision that followed soon after felt more real than any vision he had ever experienced. It was the perfect synch. Later he found himself passed out on the floor and thinking he'd gone mad. He had hoped he had gone mad, but it was the truth. He could only think of using that agenda on the desk to write a very accurate description of how the 'accident' had entailed.

It was only inevitable that he took it with him to Japan and used it to make notes on his search for his brother's body.

Months had passed and he remembered being extremely upset. It was _their_ birthday. He still hadn't found his brother and on that day he met this waiter who wouldn't visit his own brother's grave.

How stupid.

That was exactly what was unnerving about Michizawa Souji. _He knew everything._

Naru looked back at his companion across the table. Michizawa looked worn out.

This was an unnerving, and unpleasant reunion. However, maybe it was a little interesting. He remembers quite vividly when he touched Michizawa's pen. _A hanging corpse._ The vision hadn't changed after touching the agenda. Very interesting. They ate dinner quietly, discussing other subjects. Michizawa was doing a master in computer science at Tokyo University and lived on his own in a dorm after cutting off communication with his parents. He didn't say anything about other relatives.

After this meeting Naru had an inkling that Michizawa was someone he could not ignore. He gave him his business card.

* * *

**Author's notes**

First, I apologise for making you all wait. It's been like five months since I last updated.

Anyway, I wonder how many of you caught the hints in the previous chapters about Michizawa being the pissed off waiter in chapter two!

I hope to get the next chapter out soon. The draft is done, but I need to edit it first. It will reveal the mystery of the kiss marks!


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